The Penderwicks

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

The Penderwicks is a National Book Award Winner and is a lovely story about four sisters who travel to the Berkshire Mountains with their father for a summer vacation.  The sisters have many adventures and run into many tricky situations which require a convening of the sisters in a meeting of the MOOPS.  The MOOPS must find solutions to some of their dilemmas including what to do about their friend Jeffrey who's mother insists upon sending him away to military school.  Read about the adventures the sisters have with Jeffrey, Cagney the gardener, Cagney's pet rabbits (one of whom almost dies), and the fearful Mrs. Tifton.  This is a great book for students in second grade and up.

the higher power of lucky

the higher power of lucky by Susan Patron

The higher power of lucky, a Newbury Award winner by Susan Patron is set in the dry west, deep in poverty.  Lucky is a ward and depends on Bridgitte to care for her but worries that Bridgitte is going to go back to France and abandon Lucky.  Bridgitte loves France.  It is her home and where her mother lives and because of Lucky, Bridgitte is living in a metal trailer amongst sand squalls.  Lucky eavesdrops on an Alcoholics Anonymous group and learns about seeking your higher power.  Throughout the entire book Lucky is trying to seek her higher power so that no matter what, she’ll be ok.  Then she decides to run away during a sand storm.  Carrying her mother’s ashes she finds herself content to take shelter in a small cave and survive on canned beans.  Lucky is a lovable and very real character.  Join her on her journey to seeking higher power.  This book is great for students in grades 4 and up.  

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, a Newbury Honor book by Jacqueline Kelly is a refreshing story about a young lady coming of age at the turn of the twentieth century.  She is expected to be prim and embody certain feminine qualities such as knitting socks and sewing.  However, Calpurnia would rather swim in the river and collect specimens to study with her grandfather.  One day she and her grandfather discover a new plant and send in required documents to the Smithsonian Institution to verify that it is indeed a new plant.  While the plant is being verified the pressure from Calpurnia’s parents becomes nearly unbearable as they seem to be molding her into a housewife rather than a scientist.  Do Calpurnia and her grandfather discover a new plant?  And can Calpurnia break through societal expectations to pave a new path for herself as a woman scientist?  Kelly’s writing is wonderful and the story is great for students in grades 4-8. 

Princess Academy

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

This book isn't all sparkles and pretty rainbows as the title might suggest.  Princess Academy is about the most rugged community of girls you'll ever meet.  These girls can throw rocks farther than your dad can (unless he's an Olympic shot putter) and they aren't afraid to work hard.  They are mountain girls.

Suddenly they are summoned to the Princess Academy where they are to be educated and trained as a princess so that the Prince can select his bride at the ball the next year.  Olana, a fearfully strict tutor, keeps the girls silent nearly all of the time and if they disobey, it's to the rat-infested closet for them!

Miri, a particularly small mountain girl, who is insecure about her size finds herself excelling in her studies and discovering quarry-speech.  A method of speaking for those who have the linder stone in their blood.  (People who live on the mountain, eat, sleep, and breath linder).  With this speech she is able to communicate with her peers and she learns more about herself and others who live on the mountain.

Throughout the story Miri in unsure whether she would like to marry the prince and move away from her family.  She is smitten with Peder, a mountain boy, and can't help wondering if he feels the same way. Then, on the day they are to return home, bandits capture and hold the girls hostage.  Can Miri, the smallest one of the bunch, find a way to get help?  And what will she do if the prince selects her?  What about Peder?

This is a great book for children ages 8-12.  Highly recommended for those young mountain girls out there!

The Sisters Grimm

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley is an adventure story with two heroines.  Sabrina and Daphne have been mysteriously abandoned by their parents and left to the foster care system.  After a few bad experiences and creating a grisly Sabrina in response, a woman who claims to be their long-lost grandmother shows up and takes the girls home.  Sabrina attempts to escape and Daphne, being younger and therefore a little too innocent, according to Sabrina, befriends the elderly woman and to Sabrina's dismay the girls end up on a quest to save their "grandmother."  After a few harrowing events involving giants, fairy dust, and Prince Charming, the girls, especially Sabrina, begin to believe their may be some truth to their grandmother's story, but now the problem is: can they save their grandmother from the giant and can they get to her before the three fat pigs?  Grades 3 and up.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society is written by Trenton Lee Stewart and published in 2007.  This book is an adorable adventure story and joy of all joys, it is the beginning of a series!! Four children are selected by Mr. Benedict to form a team of spies who are to go undercover at a private school isolated by water on all sides.  The children make astounding discoveries, as only children can, and as the reader gets to know each of the four characters, we find out how each child is an essential part of the team, even cranky little Constance Contraire who has a secret of her own.  As the children make discoveries and use morse code to relay messages back and forth with Mr. Benedict the situation becomes more and more dangerous and the impending Emergency more dire.  Will the children escape with their lives and can they save the world from the Emergency??  Read to find out.  Really.  Read this book!  Grades 3 and up.

Freddy and the Baseball Team From Mars

Freddy and the Baseball Team From Mars by Walter R. Brooks was published in 1955 and while there are some antiquated terms and phrases, the content of the story is excellent for that youthful reader seeking mystery, a little bit of fright, sports, and science fiction.  Freddy is a walking, talking pig, who mingles among animals and humans alike.  He is such a nice and intelligent pig that the aliens who have recently settled in town have long since befriended Freddy and ask him to help them find their missing friend.  The mystery unfolds as Freddy decides to investigate the missing critter by building a baseball team and competing with suspects.  The book holds all those key elements young readers are looking for as well as the gentlemanly behaviors and etiquette of the mid-20th Century, among animals no less.  Grades 3 and up.